The Department of Mechanical Engineering (M.E.) has 18 faculty members and 2 lecturers, over 500 undergraduate students, and over 50 graduate students. M.E. offers the B.S., M.S. and the Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and the B.S. degree in Ocean Engineering. A closely affiliated program in Ocean Engineering offers the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Ocean Engineering. An accelerated B.S./M.S. option allows students to combine their undergraduate and graduate work to obtain an advanced degree in a condensed timeframe. Faculty in Mechanical Engineering also advise graduate students in the Systems Design, Materials Science and Ocean Engineering programs. The subject areas taught by M.E. faculty include mechanics, the thermal-fluid sciences, design, systems and control, materials sciences and ocean engineering. A minor can also be obtained in Materials Science and Ocean Engineering, and the curriculum is flexible enough to allow students to specialize in specific areas of interest or minor in other disciplines such as Electrical Engineering, Math, Business, and Foreign Languages. The University of New Hampshire is a land, space and sea grant institution. The challenging capstone senior projects which encompass the land, space or the ocean reflect the rich variety of areas of study.
Undergraduate students are encouraged to participate in engineering internships over the summer and some students take advantage of the opportunities in the M.E. Department/Materials Science Program/Ocean Engineering/Space Science Program to conduct undergraduate research. Because of the diversity of the basic subject areas in Mechanical Engineering, the major offers graduates a wide choice of career fields. Some students start their career in industry whereas others choose to go on to graduate school to specialize and obtain advanced degrees in diverse fields such as bioengineering, aerodynamics, ocean engineering, management, patent law, etc. Many with entrepreneurial spirit start their own companies. There is an active Graduate Program in M.E. with a wide range of research interests and research projects. Several of the M.E. faculty are also involved in the Ocean Engineering and Materials Science Graduate Programs, which allow for many opportunities in interdisciplinary study. Typical concentrations are in fluid dynamics, heat transfer, acoustics, materials science, solid mechanics, systems modeling, electromechanical design, controls, vibrations, and rigid-body dynamics.
Accreditation
The Mechanical Engineering (B Sci Mechanical Engineering) program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the General Criteria and the Program Criteria for Mechanical and Similarly Named Engineering Programs.